Exercise Cope North provides real-world humanitarian assistance

Airmen from the 36th Contingency Response Group offload a pallet of humanitarian aid supplies from a Royal Australian air force C-130 Hercules Feb. 19, 2014, at the Rota International Airport. Airmen from the Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and RAAF participating in Cope North, a multilateral exercise on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The exercise transitioned from a scenario-based humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training to humanitarian assistance of food and commodities to the citizens of Rota following months without their regular resupply by sea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Marianique Santos)

Japan Air Self-Defense Force Master Sgt. Hiroshi Moriyama guides a forklift out of a C-130 Hercules Feb. 19, 2014, at the Rota International Airport. Airmen from the Air Force, JASDF and Royal Australian air force participating in Cope North, a multilateral exercise on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The exercise transitioned from a scenario-based humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training to real world humanitarian assistance of food and commodities to the citizens of Rota when it was declared to be under a state of emergency following months without their regular resupply by sea. Moriyama is a 401st Squadron Tactical Airlift Wing loadmaster. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Marianique Santos)

Airmen from the 36th Mobility Response Group reassemble a forklift in order to offload pallets of food for a humanitarian aid mission from a Japan Air Self-Defense Force C-130 Hercules Feb. 19, 2014, at the Rota International Airport . Airmen from the Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Forces and the Royal Australian air force participating in Cope North, a multilateral exercise on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The exercise transitioned from the scenario-based humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training of to humanitarian assistance of food and commodities to the citizens of Rota. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Marianique Santos)

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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFNS) --

Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts are the key for Airmen involved with the multilateral exercise Cope North.

The Pacific Air Forces sponsored exercise includes members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Royal Australian air force. The combined team helped deliver urgent food and commodities to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas on the island of Rota here, following months without their regular resupply by sea.

Relief supplies from the Guam Red Cross were moved to Andersen Air Force Base by truck and prepped for flight, then loaded aboard coalition aircraft by the 36th Contingency Response Group. Cargo, personnel and equipment were moved to Rota using tactical airlift from all of the countries participating in the Cope North exercise. All personnel and equipment were then airlifted back to Guam.

The process was initiated after the governor of Rota declared a state of emergency and requested assistance from the Department of Defense.

After coordination with Joint Region Marianas, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces and the Department of Homeland Security, the 36th Wing on Andersen AFB, along with the Cope North exercise planners, expanded the exercise scenario to include humanitarian assistance for Rota.

For some of the airmen from these countries it may have seemed like déjà vu.

In November, Andersen AFB's 36th CRG operated out of Tacloban and Clark airfields in the Philippines while coalition C-130 Hercules from Yokota Air Base's 36th Airlift Squadron, the RAAF and the JASDF were all delivering relief supplies to the typhoon-stricken area.

"The shift from exercise scenario to Rota emergency relief was seamless," said Col. Thomas Livingston, the 36th CRG commander. "We built an outstanding working relationship throughout the Operation Damayan relief effort, and exercises like Cope North reinforce the 'muscle memory' of how each nation operates and the best way to dovetail capabilities into a complete relief package. The coordination between the aircrew and the ground teams was phenomenal."

The Cope North exercise director for U.S. forces, Col. John Parker, noted the framework built by the participating nations allowed the teams to incorporate the new mission into the exercise on-the-fly.

"The (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) portion of Cope North enhances regional capabilities to respond to crises and lays the foundation for the expansion of regional cooperation in the face of real world contingencies," said Parker, who is also the 35th Operations Group commander at Misawa Air Base, Japan. "The people of Rota expressed a need and we were able to join forces and rapidly and successfully meet that need.

The coalition air forces were also joined by the Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 on Andersen AFB. HSC-25 provided vertical insertion of teams into the Northern Marianas and the pickup of a simulated downed airman during the search and rescue scenario.

The Rota relief effort came on the last day of the five day training event. The coalition teams practiced crisis action planning, emergency deployment readiness, airfield assessments, aeromedical evacuations, resupply airdrops, search and rescue and hub-and-spoke air-land relief efforts.